Spanish football club Valencia CF is locked in a struggle with the American company DC Comics, which owns the global rights to the Batman character. DC Comics has filed an opposition to the registration of a bat logo by Valencia.

Left: the registered logo of DC Comics; right: the EU trademark Valencia applied for in 2012

100 years of bat-use

The Spanish club has been using a logo of a shield incorporating a bat for nearly a century. And in 2012 it tried to register a bat without the shield as an EU trademark.

The logo that Valencia has used for nearly a century

Batman-related block

This obviously fell foul of DC Comics, which filed an opposition to Valencia’s application since it also has a registered trademark for a black bat. After almost four years of squabbling, Valencia finally decided to cut its losses and withdrew its application.

New opposition

To mark its centenary, the club recently submitted a new trademark application, this time for a logo featuring a golden bat. You might think this is quite a long way away from the DC Comics logo – not least because it additionally includes the word Valencia – but the Americans have nevertheless filed another opposition! Clearly, the battle’s not yet over.

The new logo, once more assailed by DC Comics